Post-reading. Read the text, mind the pronunciation of the geographic names

Text 3

Read the text, mind the pronunciation of the geographic names.

GEOPOLITICAL POSITION

Belarus enjoys a highly favourable and advantageous economic, geographical, and geopolitical position. It lies at the crossroads of major railways and highways, oil, gas, and product pipelines, and communication systems between Western Europe, regions of Russia, and Asian countries, as well as between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.

Several important transport corridors cross its territory: Pan-European transport corridor II (Berlin - Warsaw - Minsk - Moscow - Nizhniy Novgorod)Pan-European transport corridor IX (Helsinki - St.Petersburg - Moscow/Pskov - Kiev - Kishinev - Bucharest - Dimitrovgrad - Alexandropoulos)Pan-European transport corridor IXB (Kiev – Minsk - Vilnius - Kaunas - Klaipeda/Kaliningrad)

Belarus borders on Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, and the Ukraine. The total length of the state border comes to 2,969 km.

Distances between Minsk and the capitals of neighbouring states are as follows: Vilnius - 215 km, Riga - 470 km, Warsaw - 550 km, Kiev - 580 km, Moscow -700 km. The Republic of Belarus is also a party to a number of cross-border activities with many other foreign countries.

Agreements on promotion and protection of investments into cultural and business sectors were concluded with the following countries: Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, the Belgium- Luxembourg Economic Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Finland, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, the Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia.

1. Can you name the capitals of the above countries?

2. Make a small oral presentation (3-5 min) about the geopolitical position of Belarus in small groups.

3. Complete the following sentences with the given numbers:

73.4%; 9,689; 60; 340; 57; 2008; 55; 99.6%; 28; 10,000; 8; 46.3%.

PEOPLE

The population of Belarus is___ million people, as of January___. Its urban population constitutes___ of the total.

According to national statistics,___ of the total population in Belarus is literate. The country possesses ___ higher educational establishments, including ___ Universities and ___ Academies. The student resident ratio of ___ per ___stands among the highest in Europe.

The proportion of workforce, or economically active individuals, among the total population is estimated at___.

Retirement age in the country depends on gender: ___ for women, and ___ years for men.

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